Come Back To Me
by whimseyrhodes
Summary: Eliot finally realizes how the fish feel when they're caught hook, line, and sinker.


**Disclaimer:** You know, I die just a little inside every time I have to write this. THEY AIN'T MINE! Boo friggin hoo

**A/N:** On the heels of my first SongFic, I was asked to write another. This is for YOU, IRISH! You can kick my ass later for being so late!

**Summary:** One shot-Eliot realizes how the fish feel when they've been caught hook, line and sinker. Song is 'I'd Come For You', by Nickelback.

**Come Back To Me**

_Just one more moment, that's all that's needed.__Like wounded soldiers in need of healing.  
><em>_Time to be honest, this time I'm bleeding  
><em>_Please don't dwell on it, cause I didn't mean it_

"Dammit, Parker! Leave me alone!" Eliot yelled, his hand clamped against his side, his ribs protesting. Her hands froze mid-reach, as did her face. He'd never yelled at her like that before. Not when she poked his bruises, not even the time she'd startled him and made him jump.

Eliot watched the thief chew on her lip, her eyes fixed on his side and knew that she was forcing herself, against her better judgment, to stay away from him like he'd ordered. The guards that had jumped him had been fast and brutal, nearly taking him down under sheer numbers alone. The truth was that he wanted so badly for her to just walk up to him and put her arm under his so he didn't fall over. Instinct overrode that desire though: having trusted and been betrayed many times in the past, mostly when he was at his weakest and most vulnerable, made him skittish.

"I'm _fine_," he panted, wanting nothing more than to let himself pass out right then and there. But the team needed him, and he needed to make sure that they continued to trust that he'd be there when they needed him, so he bit his lip and straightened up. As soon as the con was done, he could let himself relax. And apologize for being an ass.

_I can't believe I said I'd lay our love on the ground  
><em>_But it doesn't matter cause I've made it up forgive me now  
><em>_Everyday I spend away my soul's inside out  
><em>_Gotta be someway that I can make it up to you now, somehow._

He watched Parker silently back away as Nate yelled in her ear, telling her that he needed her to slip into the offices _now_, and stayed silent. This wasn't the time to dwell on the thoughts that had been plaguing him for weeks, but they just wouldn't leave him alone. Every time he got near the thief he wanted to get closer. Every time he heard her voice he wished she was speaking only to him. Every night he thought about her before he went to bed and she was the first thing on his mind in the morning.

He was going insane as she filled every nook and cranny of his head and popped up at the oddest moments. He would think of her when he was shopping for groceries, wonder what she was doing as he trained in the gym, and sometimes even the real deal would scare the ever-lovin' shit out of him as she popped in from out of nowhere to ask him an off-the-wall question that would set his increasingly bewildered brain off onto another Parker-centric tangent.

Briefings were hell, sitting next to her and smelling the almost-there scent of her apple shampoo, trying to pretend that she was just the annoying teammate that he thought was twenty pounds of crazy. He knew that the rest of the team viewed him as the big brother, the one who would protect the younger ones and make sure they ate their veggies. But he wanted more. He wanted to be able to hug her and not be looked at like _he_ was the crazy one. He wanted to be able to watch her freely, to watch her gracefulness, her quirkiness, her zest for life.

_I was blindfolded, but now I'm seeing  
><em>_My mind was closing, now I'm believing  
><em>_I finally know just what it means to let someone in  
><em>_To see the side of me that no one does or ever will  
><em>_So if your ever lost and find yourself all alone  
><em>_I'd search forever just to bring you home,  
><em>_Here and now this I vow_

Holy crap. Did this mean….?

….

No.

It couldn't be.

But he couldn't deny it. He'd fallen for her. Here, hiding out around the corner as she slip-slid into a vent to head for the mark's safe, he had to admit that he'd fallen for her as if she'd set the hook in his mouth herself. The one fish that prided himself on always getting away was on his belly in the boat.

The only problem with the whole scenario was that she liked Hardison. Or pretzels….whatever. He was just the hitter, the dumb muscle who was only worthy of watching their backs and using his fists to protect them. He would never fit into their quirky little world of Dr. Who and Star Trek…Star Wars….Star Something-or-other. He didn't understand half of their jokes and TV references, and their obviously brilliant minds, to be honest, confused him sometimes. And at other times, intimidated the hell out of him.

So why did he think that she could _possibly_ be interested in him? She couldn't, and that was the truth. She was a friend, and he had to make himself forget about having anything more.

_By now you'd know that I'd come for you  
><em>_No one but you, yes I'd come for you  
><em>_But only if you told me to  
><em>_And I'd fight for you  
><em>_I'd lie, it's true  
><em>_Give my life for you  
><em>_You know I'd always come for you  
><em>_You know I'd always come for you_

"Eliot?" He heard over the coms. "Eliot, I think someone's here," came Parker's urgent whisper.

"Stay quiet," he said. "I'm on my way. Hardison…directions, now!" he barked, then followed the hacker's orders of 'left one hall, up the stairs and right at the second turn'. On the way he silently dispatched two of the goons enroute to her position, each obviously intent only on the thief because he'd been able to easily slip up behind them. Upon making the final turn, however, he found more with weapons drawn, and he was only able to take out two of the three from his position before the last one aimed.

_And I'd fight for you  
><em>_I'd lie, it's true  
><em>_Give my life for you_

_"Parker!" _he screamed, seeing the muzzle of the gun shift to her direction. _"Look out!"_

The gun went off and he lunged, sick in his gut that he would be too late until he felt the vicious agony rip into his chest. His charge was aimless then as his body twisted with the impact and he fell to the ground, slamming into it with enough force to smash his head into the concrete.

_"ELIOT!"_

_No matter what gets in my way  
><em>_As long as there's still life in me  
><em>_No matter what, remember you know  
>I'll always come for you<br>__I'd crawl across this world for you  
><em>_Do anything you want me to_

"Please, Eliot," she sobbed. "Don't leave me. Don't leave me, not like this." She cradled him against her chest as he laid boneless on the ground, one leg straight and the other at an angle, his arms limp and palms up, fingers curled slightly.

"Please don't leave me," she bent over him, whispering in his ear. She kissed him then, and he felt her lips soft on his forehead, his eyelid, pressing into his lips. "Stay with me. Stay with me, Eliot."

She screamed as his breathing faltered, the rattle in his lungs heavy and obvious. "No! Eliot! Oh God, come back to me!"

_No matter what, remember you know  
>I'll always come for you<br>__You know I'll always come for you_.

"Come back to me….come back to me….come back to me," she murmured continuously.

Darkness. Velvet and black, soft, comforting. There was no pain anymore, no anguish, no voices yelling at him. Just darkness wrapped around him like a down comforter that he didn't want to throw off.

A small hand touched his forehead, warm against his cold skin. Eliot leaned into it, needing the comfort, and heard a soft voice. He didn't understand the words, but the tone was worried, pleading, and sounded like Parker. He didn't like her being scared, so he fought his way free of the now-cloying blanket of darkness and opened his eyes. The first thing he saw were hers, bright with unshed tears.

_Yes I'd come for you, no one but you,  
><em>_Yes I'd come for you  
><em>_But only if you told me to_

"You came back to me."


End file.
